Build Simmers: Restaurant v Nightclub Lot-Which Best For Custom Multi Mall/Entertainment Lot Build?

I have a similiar venue in my game that I put on that library lot. It has a lot, and I mean a lot, to do. Though the choices I made for what activities was more tailored toward the university experience (so it still has a library and research section and every kind of skill building object you could think of). I also put in a kitchen area on the 2nd floor, and a cafe below it.

Don't laugh, but I left as 'library' lot type. :lol: I did that so that "The Braniacs" still meets there.

I use the mod by LittleMsSam's which lets you set a lot trait for "Employees: Professional" and the result is that the bar and cafe that I have on the lot both get actual staff, despite it being library as a lot type. For your desire to have higher quality meals, that mod I mention also lets you hire a "caterer" on any lot type. It wouldn't be a restaurant, but the caterer would pump out the nicer high quality meals that you desire.
Or you could use a buffet table.

I originally did the same thing as you, and tried to set it as a Restaurant lot type, but I wasn't happy with the Braniacs meeting in a library of another world.

That lot includes lot of activities and depending on lot type, not all of them will work as intended. Some people create lots that you can change the lot type when you arrive on the lot so they work differently depending on your needs. So, seeing what you listed there, I think you could try to have the lot meet all the requirements for gym or spa, bowling alley, restaurant, and shops and then change the lot type depending on what you wish your sims to do when they go there. You can have a restaurant with a bar, but you can't have two different type of restaurants on the same lot because you can only set one menu and one set of uniforms. Sims can now order quite a lot of food from the bar, so maybe you could design the bar to look like a cheap diner, maybe in combination with the bowling alley or the spa. Also, might be a good idea to add all activities that go with a specific lot type on the same floor so that you won't have sims spread all over. Instead of a restaurant you could also try to build a shop that sells food.

Thank you both so much for the quick reply!

@Stormkeep Yep. That's exactly the thought process I had as I'm making this multiplex venue. Except all the features/functionality I'm trying to add is hit or miss based on lack of experience how sims will react. So that bit about leaving it as a library lot to attract the geek crowd is disappointing. I didn't want to exclude my socially inept Sim braniacs. Since by default of being socially challenged morons, they always end up behaving unpredictably in 99% of their social interactions :p But I'm hoping by making them friends of my outgoing/athletic jock type sims, that they can join non geek based clubs and be invited into more social venues like nightclub by default. So we'll see if this works out.

@crocobaura Yes this is exactly what I was hoping for when I picked the Nightclub lot type. This seems to be the most neutral/best fit for all the venues with the exception of the restaurant. And the layout is exactly as you suggested with exception of the 2 restaurants. So I'll just combine the two. Question now is if the game lets you add the waiter/hostess objects, will the nightclub venue still let the restaurant room area work as intended? Didn't want to glitch the game.

HOWEVER,

Is it possible to have a single kitchen but keep the two stoves? Reason for 2 stoves is to make the food service go faster (seeing how this venue has NEVER been able to serve Sims in a real human lifetime since TS2 Lol). So would keeping 2 stoves confuse Sim chef NPCs the game spawns to run the kitchen? If not, using the bar as the cheaper dining option is an excellent idea. Will likely go with this to simplify Sim AI issues lol.

Also going by your suggestion: if sims aren't autonomously showing up to dine like they should with the restaurants, then technically, I should be able to change the lot type to diner? This assumes the lot requirements don't turn the lot type red to block the game from saving it temporarily as a restaurant type.

I'd really only need it to function as a restaurant lot when my Sims visit it for explicit purposes of dining there (solo, date or part of a group/club). That would be like 25% of the time. All the other times when my Sims & their friends visit, it will be to checkout the other venues like the movie theater. So doesn't matter how the non party/townie sim visitors treat the restaurant venue.

If the game blocks saving the lot due to the lot type change, is there a cheat to override this? Again would only be temp for the duration my sims need to use the restaurant facility. Which is fine as long as doing this doesn't glitch the save then this would be a good work around.

"yoshi_dragur2012;c-18091145" wrote:


@crocobaura Yes this is exactly what I was hoping for when I picked the Nightclub lot type. This seems to be the most neutral/best fit for all the venues with the exception of the restaurant. And the layout is exactly as you suggested with exception of the 2 restaurants. So I'll just combine the two. Question now is if the game lets you add the waiter/hostess objects, will the nightclub venue still let the restaurant room area work as intended? Didn't want to glitch the game.

HOWEVER,

Is it possible to have a single kitchen but keep the two stoves? Reason for 2 stoves is to make the food service go faster (seeing how this venue has NEVER been able to serve Sims in a real human lifetime since TS2 Lol). So would keeping 2 stoves confuse Sim chef NPCs the game spawns to run the kitchen? If not, using the bar as the cheaper dining option is an excellent idea. Will likely go with this to simplify Sim AI issues lol.

Also going by your suggestion: if sims aren't autonomously showing up to dine like they should with the restaurants, then technically, I should be able to change the lot type to diner? This assumes the lot requirements don't turn the lot type red to block the game from saving it temporarily as a restaurant type.

I'd really only need it to function as a restaurant lot when my Sims visit it for explicit purposes of dining there (solo, date or part of a group/club). That would be like 25% of the time. All the other times when my Sims & their friends visit, it will be to checkout the other venues like the movie theater. So doesn't matter how the non party/townie sim visitors treat the restaurant venue.

If the game blocks saving the lot due to the lot type change, is there a cheat to override this? Again would only be temp for the duration my sims need to use the restaurant facility. Which is fine as long as doing this doesn't glitch the save then this would be a good work around.

You can have all objects you need for several lot types on the lot, but they will not all work as intended, depending on what lot type is selected. A bar for example will summon a bartender and work as a bar in a spa, restaurant, bowling alley, nightclub or bar lot type. However, the restaurant items, specifically the host podium will not work in a nightclub lot type, you'll need to change the lot type to restaurant for it to work. If you temporarily change it's lot type to nightclub, the restaurant will still keep its settings. If you have a kitchen on the lot sims might use it when you don't want them. Also you need to keep in mind that the game will spawn only a certain number of NPCs, so if you have three bars on the lot, there will only be one bartender and you can't chose which bar he will tend. For restaurants, it will spawn two chefs and two waiters, so you can have two stoves. Same with tables, if you have a restaurant, all tables on the lot are considered restaurant tables, so you don't want them spread out too much from the kitchen and restaurant area. As far as I know, sims drink and dance a lot in a nightclub, so not sure how much they will use the other objects autonomously, but if autonomous behaviors is not something you desire then I suppose nightclub could work if you just want your played sims to use the items. You could also try to designate the place as university commons when you don't play it as a restaurant.

Thank you both so much! Off to try these great suggestions :)

edit: oh just thought of a quick fix for overly inquisitive/ambitious sims pyromaniacs which the game loves spawning (typically with Cook Skill = -1 to 0) for explicit purpose of trying to access any venue areas with a stove:

JUST LOCK THE RESTAURANT KITCHEN DOOR. Lol. Use the lock door feature to exclude all Sims except your active sims who have a cook skill > 5. Problem resolved. Lol

So seems leaving it designated a Nightclub by default (with locked kitchen door) is the best way to go. This way 99% of the venues will work as intended (minus the retail clothing/pet stores etc which are strictly for atmospheric purposes). And both active/non active Sims can autonomously eat at the bar if hungry. So whenever my Sims need to dine out formally, I'll just temporarily change the lot type to restaurant.

When I build a multi-purpose lot, I usually build them with the lot requirements for each individual lot type I plan on it being. For example, I built a hotel in Tartosa. It's labeled as a lounge, but it can also be switched to a restaurant and a wedding venue. I do this so I can switch it at any time.